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In a follow up to our post “Ghosts of Waldo” where the Waldo Police Department was disbanded, AAA is reconsidering the need for a billboard to warn motorists about Waldo being a speed trap. [Source Daily Mail though the Mail does mess up the road. It is 301 not 310].

However, one commentator “grneyedmnstr, Tampa, United States” to this article said:

I drove through Waldo Thursday night and again on Sunday afternoon coming back from my trip. Both times there were lights and sirens every few blocks with people pulled over–mostly tourists. The whole town is about 3 miles long and you crawl along at 30 miles an hour. Lawtey is just as bad. Nothing has changed.

To recap, Waldo is one of the two cities in America labelled by “AAA” as “traffic traps”. These are cities that go out of their way to raise revenues from ticketing drivers passing through where their overzealous speed system, trips up users – see our previous article “Where’s Waldo? In Jail hopefully”.

The Waldo Police officers blew the whistle on their Chief at a public meeting, for giving them ticket quotas to meet. This was illegal under Florida law.

There is now one less public menace to the motorist but their sister city, Lawtey, still exists. Drivers on Florida US301 beware.

US301-Legalized Highway robbery with two towns singled out by AAA as “Traffic Traps”.

Highway 301 runs through Florida just South East of Jacksonville. From Baldwin to Hawthorne, it is notorious for it’s issuing of speeding tickets. Two towns in particular – Lawtey and Waldo – are infamous for their overzealous ticketing, so much so that AAA officially declared them “Traffic Traps” : The only two cities in the United States to have such a declaration.

Per AAA site:

“Traffic Trap” – AAA condemns traffic enforcement measures and practices which are designed to raise revenue rather than prevent crashes or where there is evidence that enforcement is not justified by sound engineering principles. AAA particularly condemns the use of traffic traps which involve unfair, unethical or illegal law enforcement tactics or traffic control devices, as well as the use of speed measurement devices on roads with speed limits appreciably less than warranted by sound engineering principles.

Under “Traffic Traps” AAA says about Lawtey and Waldo:

“These two small Florida communities are located on U.S. Highway 301 situated about halfway between Jacksonville and Gainesville and still depend on revenue generated by traffic tickets to help meet their annual budget”

AAA is so outraged, it even paid for billboards to warn motorists traveling down 301 to beware that they are approaching these towns. Continue reading..